Clean Slate

I will be the first to admit I am ‘techie challenged’! This simply means I know just enough to get myself in trouble when I try to make changes on my computer operating systems but certainly not enough to actually ‘fix’ any problem. Oh, the hours of frustration I have created for myself.

Recently, I attempted to correct some problems I was having on Facebook. I tried everything I could think of, read comments on the HELP boards….all to no avail. It began to take on a life of its own because I was so focused on fixing it! I can hear the taunts and snickers coming from inside my PC. Surely it was demon possessed!

So, in what I call a ‘flash of brilliance’, the thought came to me to reset the computer to its default settings. This should not only undo all the ‘opps’ I created but restore it to the original settings from the factory. See, brilliant….right? Perhaps we should not be hasty to rush to that conclusion.

My magic default restoration did, indeed, fix the Facebook problem. Awesome! I was feeling pretty proud of myself right about then. Still focused on fixing the problem, I felt I had accomplished all I set out to do. My triumphant happy dance did not last long.

What I did not consider was the big picture. In the reality of said big picture, I had lost all information, program settings and http addresses I use on a daily basis. Yep, all gone! Including the addresses to my blogs…this is a big OPPS! I wiped them all out with the light touch of a key, a click of a button and the single mindedness in which I was functioning. Wiped clean…I may have corrected one issue but I created a host of other problems. I put away my Happy Dance shoes!

As I see it, this is a fairly accurate picture of what we do in life. We focus on what we perceive to be ‘the problem’ and set our minds to fixing it. We try all we know, talk to anyone that will listen, take advice from people that know nothing more than we knew in the first place and end up with a stack of add-on problems we created in our ignorance.

Looking at this from a spiritual perspective we have collected an array of OPPS and sins. Let’s look at some of them:

Focused on the problem rather than going our ultimate problem solver, God.
Pride in our own actions and works.
Breathed life into the problem by constantly talking about it.
Prayer as a last resort..”All we can do now is pray.”..rather than the first course of action!

The good news is, when we finally get real and take our issues to God, asking for forgiveness for our foolish ways, He can and will hit His holy 'reset button' and wipe our sin slate clean. Then the real problem solving begins. That’s about all the technical information we need to know.